World news in brief, 7/20

SAN JOSE — A fugitive former CIA base chief detained in Panama this week is being sent to the U.S. instead of Italy, which wanted him to serve prison time in the 2003 abduction of a terrorism suspect, the Obama administration said Friday.

Robert Seldon Lady was held in Panama on Thursday after Italy and Interpol requested his arrest for his role in the anti-terrorism program known as extraordinary rendition. After barely a day in detention, he was put on a plane to the U.S. by the Panamanian government, a close U.S. ally that offered no explanation for its decision.

KIROV — A court's abrupt decision Friday to release Russia's most charismatic opposition leader less than a day after handing him a five-year prison sentence appears to reflect confusion in President Vladimir Putin's inner circle about how to deal with its No. 1 foe.

It makes clear that the Kremlin is far from a monolith. The surprising about-face involving Alexei Navalny highlights an open rift between factions in Putin's government that could be as unsettling for the leadership as any opposition figure, experts say.

In an unusual move, prosecutors themselves had requested that Navalny, an anti-corruption blogger and Moscow mayoral candidate, be let go pending appeal just a few hours after he was led out of a courtroom in handcuffs after an embezzlement conviction that was widely seen as unfair.

The decision came as thousands of Navalny's supporters gathered Thursday around Moscow's Manezhnaya Square outside the Kremlin for an unsanctioned protest of what they called a politically motivated ruling, chanting "Freedom!" and "Putin is a thief!"

U. Arab Emirates

Norwegian alleges rape, fights jail term

DUBAI — A Norwegian woman sentenced to 16 months in jail in Dubai for having sex outside marriage after she reported an alleged rape said Friday that she decided to speak out in hopes of drawing attention to the risks of outsiders misunderstanding the Islamic-influenced legal codes in this cosmopolitan city.

The case has drawn outrage from rights groups and others in the West since the interior designer, 24, was sentenced Wednesday. It also highlights the increasingly frequent tensions between the United Arab Emirates' international atmosphere and its legal system.

"I have to spread the word. ... After my sentence we thought, ‘How can it get worse?' " Marte Deborah Dalelv told The Associated Press at a Norwegian aid compound in Dubai, where she is preparing her appeal.

Dalelv, who worked for an interior design firm in Qatar since 2011, claims she was sexually assaulted by a co-worker.

The AP does not identity the names of alleged sexual assault victims, but Dalelv went public voluntarily to talk to media.